Way2slow

Your biggest concern should be battery power first and by the time you get enough battery for a reasonable amount of run time, especially if you go with lithiums, you will have a few grand tied up in batteries. If you go with lead acid, you will a huge amount of weight. I'm making the assumption your TM is 36 volts going by the size of it. If I was going to take this journey, my first action would be to start with six,12v batteries and see what king of run time you get, then build from there. There used to be a web site for electric only boats that had a lot of good info for what you are wanting to do. Might do a search and see if you can find that. I've seen people running four TM and half a boat full of batteries back before lithium's. Some even ran electric fork lift batteries.

Single or dual cable? Single cable, I haven't seen many of those you can adjust so the steering wheel doesn't have free play at the helm. Some used to give you and adjustment on the helm, but it's been so many years since I've even seen a single cable, I wouldn't have a clue what they do now. Dual cable is not a problem, you just adjust the housing where they attach to the motor. I would first make sure it's the cable itself and not something else. I've seen a lot of them the motor mounts and cable connection points have a ton of movement. One other thing, make sure it is cable and not hydraulic. I had a guy ask me one time if I could adjust his cables because he had a lot of free movement. When I looked at it, told him that was not possible, but I could bleed his hydraulic steering system for him and probably take care of it.

If all this was done on muffs, I'm surprised you didn't blow it up. For starters, you should never run a motor at more than 2,000 rpm when not under a load. Two strokes can go into runaway just like a diesel engine. Doing that on muffs, the muffs on a hose most likely were not supplying enough water. I run them in a 120-gallon stock tank so the water pump can provide the water needed and even then, when the prop is turning, the water turbulence will let it suck air into the water intake ports. Since circulates the water through the block, it exits through the exhaust so you should be seeing water coming out of those holes. Water pumps impellers should be replaced a lot more often than "many years". Three years is pretty much ther recommended standard. If the motor has ever been run in salt water, and has sat for long periods, it's a good chance the corrosion has clogged the cooling ports in the block. You not knowing anything about a water pump, I'm not even going to get into the mix on diagnosing your problem. Besides that, I'm not overly familiar with Mercury motors anyway to get into specific/detailed trouble shooting. One thing I forgot to mention, that hole you referred to on top of the lower unit is most likely just the access hole for a speedometer supply hose. When they provided that feature, there is a plastic nipple screwed into the leading edge of the lower unit and that's an access hole to get the tube down to it. Not having a plug in it has absolutely not affect on the water circulation.

If you want it to last more than a couple of years exposed to the elements, make sure it's a 600 denier.

Power cables are usually not a problem to extend. Since most units will draw about one amp or less, you have to get pretty long with 18 or 16ga cable to cause resistance as long as you are careful what you run the cable next to. All that extra tape and plastic conduit does is protect it from wear, it does nothing to keep induced RMF out. A metal shielded/braid is required to prevent that. Transducer cables, you pretty much have to buy a manufactured extension cable to go longer. One note: if your transducer cable is way too long, roll it up into a round coil no less than eight inches in diameter. Since it has a pulsating signal, it can do similar to AC current and create a magnetic field which can cause interference if coiled too small.

To explain what caused your problem. The starter requires a very high current, especially when first starting up. Leaving that large ground cable off, it was pulling a ground through one of those smaller wires not capable of handing the current needed. It's like putting a huge resistor in line. Not getting the initial current needed, the starter would not engage fast enough to kick the Bendix up into the flywheel to engage it. Had it actually engaged it, it would have probably just stop spinning and possibly caused that small wire to overheat and start smoking, it for sure would not have started, because the motor has to be spinning at a couple hundred rpm for generate enough spark to fire the plugs. This is why a weak/bad battery may be cranking the motor over, but it won't start, it's not cranking fast enough to generate a spark.

I think in 1997 Tracker Boats were still running Johnson Motors. The reason it says do not strike the starter is there are permanent magnets inside it an if you crack one, you just bought yourself a new starter. It sounds like the Bendix is sticking. Spray everything about it and the shaft good with WD-40. There are some steel balls inside it that are supposed to kick out and engage it when it starts to spin. There is also a spiral shaft that makes it move up into the flywheel when it starts spinning and spring the pushes it back out of the flywheel when it stops spinning. If that spiral shaft is gummed up or that balls inside, it will not engage the flywheel. I generally take the apart and clean them but it doesn't sound like you have the knowledge to do that, so if you can't get it to engage, you might have to buy a new one. You should be able to take a screwdriver or something and lift the Bendix up to spray the spiral shaft. I just had another brain fart. Double check and make SURE you did not connect the battery cables to the battery backwards. I don't know how many times I've seen people do that and if you do, the starter spins backwards and in no way will it engage the flywheel spinning backwards.

If they explode, it's because the light has an air leak. Before I started running LED lights, unless it was a very steep ramp, I never unplugged. If one shattered the bulb, it's usually there is an air leak in it. On occasion, if you have a really steep ramp and/or back in too fast, it will let water splash up into it from the bottom, since the bottoms are usually open and pop the bulb. If I found a shattered bulb, I used some silicon to seal the light housing. Now, if you put the lens in with silicon, you probably won't get it back off in one piece for the next bulb change, but if you put a thin, even coat of silicon on the gasket, let it cure, and then put it in, it usually seals fine and doesn't glue the sucker in. Even with the bottom being open, it won't let enough water in to reach the bulb because unless it's leaking air, it can't displace the air to let water in. Backing in too fast and especially on a steep ramp will make scoop up the water and splash it up on the bulb. As I mentioned before, I've probably had to replace as many bad LED lights as I have incandescent. I've replaced few bulbs over my 58 years of owning boat trailers, but rarely the whole light.

I'm totally confused. From your initial post, it makes it sound like you've gone 40 years and never pulled the hubs off to service the bearings and replace the seals, something any prudent boat owner would do every year at the beginning or ending of the season. I'm amazed this has not been one of those trailers you see on the side of the road with the spindle on the ground and the wheel somewhere on in the bushes along the road. Hubs don't wear out, the bearings and seals are what wear out and all that needs to be replaced, unless you fail to service them, and they destroy the hub and spindle and ruin a fishing trip. As for the lights, if they go under water, I would go with the LED. I've probably had to replace as many LED lights the went bad as I have incandescent because I buy those cheap things from Northern Tools, but they do have a tendency to be more waterproof, and you don't have to worry about trying to get a rusted in bulb out.

A lot of the Bullet guys run a 14" jack plate. just get you one of those. It's not a lot of trouble to make your own. I would do it as cheap as possible because I'm pretty sure you don't realize the problems you will create and find it will probably be wasted money. Some heave aluminum angle and a couple small pieces of 1/4" aluminum plate and you can make all the setback you desire.

You are probably one of the very few that would want such a piece, so I seriously doubt anyone makes what you are looking for. When most people are wanting that much setback, it's to make a boat with a big motor go faster and not many with a 50hp motor are concerned about going faster. You start getting that much setback, you are putting a serious strain on your transom and the jack plate. If someone made a 10" setback for a small motor, some idiot would try to put a huge motor on it, trying to save a dollar, and companies would not want to be liable for it, because some lawyer would try to make them when that idiot killed himself or destroyed his boat and motor with it. Another concern I would have with a huge setback is the flotation of the transom on a 16' boat with the motor setting way back and the weight of shallow water anchors and I'm sure you are probably running three batteries in the back. You could very easily end up with a boat that will take water over the transom when sitting in any kind of choppy water. The more setback you have the more leverage the weight of the motor has to push the transom deeper in the water.

DFI motors use a lot less oil than carbureted NA motors, so the oil requirements are a lot more critical. I would never run anything but the manufacturer's recommended oil in any DFI motor, if you care anything about the motor. I'm sure some are thinking BS, they've run such and such cheap brand and never had a problem and good for them, I won't.

I use a pair of the same 6-light LED A-Jay posted but mine have a mounting bracket and are mounted under each side of my back bumper. On the 24' pontoon boat, I mounted a couple on the back of its trailer and use the reverse wire for that locks out the brakes to backup to power them. That requires using a five-wire plug made for that. It gets used a lot by my granddaughter and her husband for night fishing and where the ramp is, there's pretty sorry light. I will say, I did have one of our locals finest try to give me a hard time backing out of a parking spot at the mall one night, trying to say they were too bright and blinding. I was polite with him and agreed to try adjusting them down some, while thinking the whole time "what an AH" and left them just like I had them.

Sounds like someone needs to find a mechanic. I would be p****d if I paid someone (which will never happen) to rebuild a carburetor and they told me the needle seems to still be sticking after they were done with it. That's one of the main things the dumb*** is supposed fix. That's another one of those cases where they don't know how to rebuild a carburetor, which there are tons of "mechanics" (I use that term loosely) that don't. They know how to take it apart, put a few new parts in it and put it back together, a 10-year-old can do that. There's a whole lot more to rebuilding one that. The first thing is knowing how it actually works, which orifices do what and how to clean and inspect each. There's a whole more to one than air just passing through the venturi and pulling some gas through with it. I actually heard one of those dealer "mechanics" telling a customer the fuel pump pressure squirted the gas through the jets into the engine, and it was squirting too much and flooding it out.

I guess there's some that don't use mirrors to back. With my neck, I have to because I can't turn my head more than a few degrees. Short trailers with short tongues are the worst but still very doable with just mirrors. I have a 2500HD pickup that has the turning radius of a semi, and a short utility trailer I can't even see behind the truck when towing it. When backing I just watch for when fender starts to come into view in the mirror, I instantly make a small correction. It's a little zig-zagging but it gets it where I want it.

Never needed or used them with glass boat that have a riser hull. The bunks worked just fine. Drive it on the trailer and it pretty much sits there while I get out and put the wench hook in. On a steep ramp, it might slide back some but not enough to create problems. However on a flat bottom or semi-vee bottom aluminum boat, that's a different story. When the current or wind has back end is trying to go sideways on the trailer before you have time to do anything, you learn to appreciate the guide bars or side guides real quick.

Just PVC is probably not going to work, they are not strong enough and probably break off the first time you bump them. The ones you see that look like PVC are usually a piece of PVC slide over a piece of steel tubing. If you want to try, make you some steel brackets with short pieces for steel tubing sticking up and slide the PVC on them. Drill a hole through them a stick a long 1/4" bolt though them to keep the PVC from bouncing off. Of course for the time and effort put into making the brackets, it won't cost but a few dollars more to make those short pieces of steel tubing long pieces. I guess you've never had to load it where there's current or a cross wind, or you would have put them on before your next trip.

I'm not an aluminum guy. Ride quality is a term I've never associated with an aluminum boat. If you have always used a good riding glass hull, I think it will take an attitude adjustment to step into most aluminum boats. However, if you want each trip to cost you less, that helps offset the dislike of the ride quality. As for gauge aluminum, a lot has to do with the size boat and quality boat you are looking at. When you start getting below 0.095" thick metal and pop riveted hulls, you are down entry level, bottom feeder models. When looking at the one-piece mold formed hulls, you are in the upper-class hulls. Like the old saying, buy cheap, get cheap, so buy as good as you think you can afford, and you might be willing to keep it and not regret giving up your glass boat.

Does the prop turn freely by hand? If it's rubbing or snug to turn by hand, sounds like it's not the right prop for that particular motor and it's going to deep on the shaft and binding down against the motor housing. It should turn free and easy with the prop nut snugged down. MinnKota makes bunches of different props, and it has to say it suitable for your motor's model number.

It's important an engine is not running below the recommended minimum water pressure. It's easy to do if it's too high, especially in turns or worn water pumps.. If you start playing with engine height, a pressure gauge is a must. Most all water-cooled engines require a pressurized cooling system to prevent hot spot from forming. (pressure raises the boiling point of water) These will create steam and push the water out of the block. I don't know what the four stroke motors require but the two strokes were usually 10 to 16 psi. Yamaha and Mercury were usually on the lower end of that and the old OMC's were on the higher end of that. The alarm doesn't go off until it's already hot. the gauge can let you catch it before that. Things happen, like one time I was cruising along at 4,500 rpm and noticed my water pressure was zero. I immediately stopped and raised the motor. A frigging loaf bread wrapper someone had thrown away had wrapped around the lower unit and blocked off the intake ports on both sides of the motor. One thing I should mention. Letting a motor sit for long periods of not being used is actually more damaging to the water pump than regular use. The rubber hardens and develops a memory, so it doesn't flex out against the wall of the pump as firm as it should to maintain good pressure. Three years is about as long as you should run one.

I think Pee Hole or Pisser is the most common terms used but it's actually the visual indicator. Depending on the make and size motor, there can be a delay, but probably not a minute. Larger motors hold several gallons of water in the exhaust chest part of the block and it has to fill with water before it start coming out that hole. Whether or not the thermostat is open has little affect on how long it takes. It only prevents water from leaving the block, that hole is ported before the thermostat. There are air bleed holes cast into the block so trapped air can't prevent the block from filling with water. As mentioned, Dirt Dobers love ready-made holes to lay their eggs and if you don't keep something stuck in in when parked, they will plug it. Your water pressure gauge should be your main indicator. If you don't have one and your boat is large enough to have a console, you should add one. Water pressure gauge, tachometer and voltmeter (to make sure it's charging) are three must have gauges on any boat as far as I'm concerned, and on a pontoon boat or boat you can't see the motor/midsection, a trim indicator.

Yea, several tons and almost 450 square feet of boat, and probably not two square feet of ever touches the water when it's flying, and it is actually flying above the surface of the water.

That was my first question I asked Tony Mulherin with Miss Halmark Homes the first time I saw it, how the hell do you get it on and off the trailer.

Catt, most people can't imagine just how big those boats are until you can get up close and personal to one. Back in the early 70/71 friend of mine got into racing with those things. His was the Miss Hallmark Homes. When he started, he thought he was rich. It took about a year for him to lose his business and go bankrupt. I think he lost three boats in that first year. That was back when they were still running Allison and Rolls-Royce Merlin aircraft engines. I can't imagine what it cost to put one of those things in the water today. That's how I met Bob Lipton who tuned my props for me, he was the one that tuned Miss Budweiser's, Miss Halmark Homes and props and a ton of other boat racers for years. I only mentioned the fastest boats I've owned, I've seen tons of hydro-rocket's that had no problem running well into the 100's and even 200. The fastest one I've ever driven was a friends STV at 134.6 mph. He loved fast boats but was too scared to really fly the hull on that one to see how fast it would run, so asked me if I would. That was 20 years ago, I wouldn't do it now.

I've had a number of boats that ran in the 70's or faster with two people and gear. My first really fast boat was back in the late 60's/early 70's was a 16' Alison with two Mercury 135BHP racing motors on it. It was timed at 83mph. My first really fast fishing boat was back in the mid 80's. It was a 15' ProCraft I put a 200 Mercury on, the boat was only rated for an 85. I ran it like that for about a year before I stepped up to and 17' boat, modified that 200 and ran it a couple years. Never knew how fast they ran but easily in the high 70's with two people and gear. Fast enough to scare the crap out of anyone that was not expecting it. My best, most stable boat was the 20' Javelin R20DC I sold last year. With my 325hp modified motor it would GPS 82mph with two 200+ pound men, gear and 30 gallons of gas. Even with the 225 Ficht it ran in the lower 70s.